Improvement in fish-hooks



IIIMSELF AND LEONARD l .i ,titane MARTINILTZ, OFGLOUCESTER,`MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO A. BURNHAM, OF SAME PLACE.

@atmtitwa g Laim Paten.: No. 86,154, dazed January 26, 1869,

To all persons to 'whom mese presents may come:

c Be it known that I, MARTIN HiL'rz, of Gloucester," in the`eounty ofEssex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Fish- Hooks; and do hereby declare the same to be fullyde` scribed in the following specification, and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which- Figure l Vis a side elevation, and

Figure 2, a front view of a {ish-hook, as constructed in accordance withmy invention.

'My improvement has reference to the formation of the eye of the book,the purpose of the improved eye beingto enable the book to be easilyengaged with or disengaged from a line.

Instead ofibrming the hook with a single eye, ofthe shape usuallyadopted, (which is represented at a in Figure 3, which is a-.stide viewof' an eyed fisbhook,) I give to the eye the form as shown at A, in iig.2, so as to construct the eye, not only with an opening, a', sutieientlylarge to receive a knot, b, made on the end of the fishing-line L, (seetig. 1,) but with a tapering recess, c, leading from the eye, in manneras represented, sucb recessbeing, at or near its upper end, ot' a widthequal to or a little greater than the diameter ofthe line L, and at andnear its low'er end cfa width less than the said diameter.

VThe leg-portion, d, of the eye, owing to the bend e, and also to beingdisconnected at lits end with that part of the shank next adjacenttosuch end, will be like a spring, so that after a fishing-line may havebeen introduced through the opening, a', and pulled upward, the partwill spring away under the draught ou the line, and allow the line topass into the upper part of the recess, `wherein it will be held by tbeknot oi' the line and by the taper of the recess, the latter serving toprevent the line, under ordinary circumstances, from passing back intothe opeuin g, a'.

By seizing the hook in one hand, and the line with the other, andpulling the line downward, it may be Vdrawn through the recess c intothe opening, a', Aand thence out of the hook.

With my improved spring-eye hook, a fisherman can easily disengage hisline from the hook while in 4the mouth oa iish, and afterward andquickly engage the line with another such hook yfreshly halted.

Thus he may give bis whole attention to the catching of the iisb,another person being employed to remove tbe hooks from the captured fishand rebait them, so that they may again be ready, when required foruse,or the tshe1"rnan,'whilc his line may be overboard, may himselfremove the hook from the captured sh, and rebait such hook, so as toagain render it ready for use.

By having the hook made with the knot-opening, af, and the taperingrecess c, formed by bending the upper portion ofthe shankof the hook, inmanner as described and represented, the upper end ofthe shank isbrought close downto the next adjacent part ofthe shank, and so curvedthat it will not be liable to catch or hook into grass or other matterswhile the hook may be in use.

My improvement saves the usual process of gauging a line to a book, alsothe tying of the line, or inserting it through the eye and afterwardknottiug it, as is usually practised.

I make no claim to a fish-hook as constructed, with a plain eye, asindicated by fig. 3 of the above-meutioued drawings; but

I claim as my invention- The eyed fish-hook, substantially asrepresented in figs. l and 2, and as hereinbefore described, thatlis, ashaving the eye A, formed with the knotreceiving opening a', and thetapering recess e, or its equivalent, leading therefrom, as set forth. A

' MARTIN HILTZ. Witnesses:

Enw. .'1 Herr, E. O. GAFFNEY.

